It’s being quite a few days for corporate governance. First, the unprecedented (at least since our records began in 1996) shock yesterday of Sir John Bond’s ejection as Chair of Glencore Xstrata, whilst in the same week, the PR chicanery currently being played out in the US ahead of JPMorgan’s AGM next week over the question of whether the Chair and Chief Executive […]
Read MorePerhaps the two least surprising observations about last week’s local government elections in the UK were the weakness of the incumbent national government party vote, and the continued fall in turnout. If there’s one thing you can rely on, it’s that generally people don’t understand why local government is important to them and therefore don’t […]
Read MoreVince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, this week announced the latest government consultation on executive pay, this time aimed specifically at enhancing shareholder voting rights on the matter. The consultation seeks opinions on the following outline policy proposals: An annual binding vote on future remuneration policy Making the vote on future […]
Read MoreOne of the suggestions made by Vince Cable when answering his parliamentary question in the House of Commons yesterday in relation to his proposals to address executive pay, was that the remuneration report may be subject to a higher support threshold than currently. This has some echoes of Australia’s two-strikes rule, which states that if […]
Read MoreThe Australian Future Fund, established in 2006 to assist future Australian governments meet the cost of public sector superannuation liabilities, has released its 2009/10 annual report. The report reveals for the first time how the Fund has cast its voting rights at shareholder meetings in Australia, having taken its voting at domestic meetings in-house in […]
Read MoreIn a speech to the New Zealand Shareholders Association Conference and AGM, the NZ Commerce Minister, Simon Power, has pledged to include in the Regulatory Reform (Omnibus) Bill 2010, which is currently being drafted, provisions allowing for electronic participation in shareholder meetings. The reform will allow companies to opt-in to using electronic shareholder participation for […]
Read MoreThe activist shareholder Guy Wyser-Pratte has challenged the outcome of the AGM of Lagardère, held on 27 April, and requested the French market regulator, the AMF, to verify the procedures for the transmission of the votes submitted to the meeting. In a letter dated 8 June 2010, Wyser-Pratte states that he has serious doubts about […]
Read MoreWhen is an abstention not an abstention? A possible party-time trivia question for lawyers maybe, but a question with real consequences for shareholders which highlights yet again the importance of ensuring local knowledge is applied to voting decisions. Most company law regimes have special provisions for dealing with ‘qualified majority’ issues. They may differ one from another […]
Read MoreFour of the Swedish buffer funds (AP1, AP2, AP3 and AP4) this week announced the appointment of a provider of global voting services: “The First to Fourth AP Funds (The Funds) have carried out a procurement of a Global Voting Service. After extensive evaluation of different suppliers and their systems, we have decided to award Manifest […]
Read MoreAlthough the EU Shareholder Rights Directive was meant to have been fully implemented by 3 August 2009 at the latest, Italy is only just now mulling over shareholder responses to its the second consultation which was launched on 24 July 2009 and closed on 18 September 2009. Over 20 consultation responses have been published, with […]
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